


Between Floors

by Brumeier



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Claustrophobia, Community: picfor1000, Gen, Supernatural Elements, Trapped In Elevator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-08
Updated: 2015-01-08
Packaged: 2018-03-06 15:15:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3139022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A routine investigation takes an unexpectedly frightening turn for Danny and Steve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between Floors

**Author's Note:**

> This is my contribution to the [A Picture is Worth 1000 Words](http://picfor1000.livejournal.com/) LJ community. I received [this photo](https://www.flickr.com/photos/71709755@N02/6763310923/in/photostream/lightbox/) to serve as inspiration for the muse.

“Will you stop that?” Danny smacked Steve on the arm. “Pushing the button twenty times isn’t going to make the elevator come faster.”

Steve gave him a look and pushed it one last time.

“I swear, you are worse than a child.”

“This feels like a wild goose chase,” Steve complained. “We should be looking for Bentz.”

“Chin’s got that covered,” Danny reminded him. “What I need is for you to stop acting like a fidgety five year old long enough to interview this woman.”

The elevator doors finally opened and Danny ushered his partner inside, and as far away from the button panel as possible. He wasn’t sure he trusted the elevator; like the apartment building that housed it, it had been built in the twenties. It was well maintained, but old was old.

Danny pushed the button for the fourteenth floor, and then took a closer look at the panel. “Huh. No thirteen. Don’t see that much these days.”

“Old superstitions.” Steve looked at his watch. “I never put much stock in that stuff.”

“It’s not all bunk, you know. My cousin Manny broke a mirror once, and he had nothing but bad luck after that.”

“The same cousin Manny with the drug problem?” Steve asked, eyebrow quirked.

“That’s irrelevant. The important thing to remember is –”

The elevator jerked to a stop, throwing Danny into Steve, and Steve into the wall. The old-fashioned dial indicator was twitching between twelve and fourteen, and when Danny pushed himself upright he saw that the call button was cracked and non-functional.

“Great. Wonderful. Stuck in an ancient elevator. Perfect.” Danny smacked his hand against the wall. Normally he did okay in the enclosed space of an elevator, as long as it was moving and he knew his time inside was limited. Being trapped inside one was a whole new ballgame.

“Hey, calm down, Danny. Freaking out isn’t going to help.”

“Oh, thank you for that completely useless piece of advice! I can’t tell you how comforting I find that.” Danny tugged at his collar. His throat was starting to feel tight and he could hear his breath whistling in his ears. “Not enough air.”

Steve grasped him by the shoulders and pushed him to the floor. “Head between your knees. Take some deep breaths, buddy. Okay? I’ll get us out of here.”

Danny grumbled but did as he was told. He pulled in several ragged breaths, hands laced behind his head. It was stupid, but Steve’s words actually helped calm him down. For all that his partner could be a grenade-throwing lunatic, there probably wasn’t a person in the world Danny believed in as much as Steve, especially in situations like this.

When his panic had dropped back a level or two he turned his attention back to Steve, who was using his Ka-Bar to pry the doors open.

“You still with me, Danno?” Steve asked over his shoulder.

“Be better once we’re out of here.” 

“Almost there,” Steve said with a grunt. “Once I get these doors open I’ll do the same with the outside doors. We’re between floors. You want to go up or down?”

“SEAL’s choice.” Neither option sounded all that appealing, to be honest. All Danny could think about was the elevator jerking back into motion and catching him half in and half out the doors. Cue slasher movie sound effects and buckets of blood.

“Easier to go up. Okay, here we go.” With a sound that was almost a growl, Steve pulled the doors apart. “Just another… uh… Danny?”

Danny pushed himself to his feet, alerted to a problem by the tone of Steve’s voice. “What’s wrong? Can’t you get the other doors open?”

“What doors?”

Despite the fact that the indicator said they were between floors, that turned out not to be the case at all. Danny immediately didn’t like the looks of the floor they were on. It was really dark, for one thing, with so many shadows at either end that he couldn’t even see the apartment doors. The electric wall sconces that weren’t burned out were flickering erratically, illuminating enough of the hall to show that the wallpaper was stained and torn. A rusty-looking placard said _13th Floor_ in art deco print.

“This isn’t right,” he said, backing away from the door. 

It wasn’t just the look of things. There was a dank, fetid smell in the air that Danny could swear he felt on his skin like an oily residue. He was so preoccupied by the wrongness of the whole situation that he let Steve slip out of the elevator and into the hall.

“Are you out of your mind?” Danny hissed. “Get back in here!”

Steve shook his head, eyes wide. “Something’s coming.” 

“Fuck!” Danny forced himself out into the hall. After all, he was the backup. He pulled his gun, saw Steve already had his in his hand.

Now that Danny was out there he could hear it: slow, shuffling footsteps and wet, open-mouthed breathing. “Can you tell where it’s coming from?”

“No.”

He and Steve ended up back to back, each watching one end of the hall. Danny’s heart was in his throat and he wouldn’t be surprised if his hair was standing on end.

_Ding._

Danny whipped his head around and saw the elevator doors starting to close. “Steve!”

He’d never been more appreciative of his partner’s long arms and crazy reflexes as Steve got his hand around one of the doors and kept it from closing. 

“Back inside, Danny. Now!”

Danny wasn’t about to argue. He ducked under Steve’s arm and then tugged the man himself in after him by his belt. The doors closed and the elevator began to descend.

“We’re never speaking of this,” Danny said. He saw how badly his hand was trembling and immediately holstered his gun. 

“No argument from me.”

When the elevator reached the first floor they didn’t exactly make a run for the exit, but it was a close thing.

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** This was my second go at this challenge. I couldn’t make my first idea work because it had way too much plot for 1k. So I redirected myself. Looked up Friday the 13th, which led me to unlucky 13, which led to hotels not having a 13th floor because it’s unlucky. Thank you, brain! And Wikipedia. ::grins::
> 
> Super special thanks to my delightful and amazing beta, [ Taste_is_Sweet ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Taste_is_Sweet/pseuds/Taste_is_Sweet)! You’re the hot fudge on my sundae!


End file.
